THIS WEEKEND Moviegoers
said farewell to summer by continuing to make the suspense hit Signs
the number one film in North America over the Labor Day holiday weekend.
Meanwhile, a trio of independent films led by My
Big Fat Greek Wedding expanded into more theaters and delivered
solid results attracting ticket buyers sick of Hollywood's late-summer
rejects.

For the second consecutive weekend, and third time overall, M. Night
Shyamalan's alien thriller Signs topped
the box office grossing $17M over the Friday-to-Monday holiday session,
according to final studio figures.
After 32 days of release, the Mel Gibson blockbuster has beamed up $195.6M
and has become the top grossing movie ever for the Hollywood superstar
surpassing the $182.8M of 2000's What Women Want.
The four-day tally for Signs ranks
as the second-best Labor Day weekend gross ever behind the director's own
The Sixth Sense which scared up a thrilling
$29.3M in 1999 while also in its fifth frame.

The runaway comedy hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding
climbed two more rungs on the box office ladder and reached the bridesmaid
position grossing $14.8M from 1,619 theaters. IFC Films added another 290
playdates and continued its brilliantly-executed expansion of the PG-rated
film watching its cume reach $82.6M. Wedding
averaged a terrific $9,147 per theater while in its 20th weekend of release.
Still defying gravity, the independent smash once again enjoyed the biggest
gross and highest chart position of its amazing theatrical run and should
break the $100M mark by the end of next week.

Greek Wedding is not the first surprise
hit to reach blockbuster status without huge weekend grosses to its credit.
1999's American Beauty ended up with
$130.1M without ever taking in more than $10M on a single weekend. The
following year's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
reached $128.1M without ever collecting more than $9M over a single weekend.

With Labor Day weekend putting an end to another summer movie season,
overall ticket sales since Memorial Day weekend are estimated to be up
3% versus last summer. Factor in increased ticket prices and total admissions
are roughly flat. The top five blockbuster hits of the season include Spider-Man
($403.7M), Star Wars Episode II ($300.7M),
Austin Powers in Goldmember ($203.5M),
Signs ($195.6M), and Men
in Black II ($190.4M). Four titles will cross the $200M mark
compared to three last year and just one in 2000. Two megablockbusters
surpassed the $300M barrier this summer while no film reached that mark
duing the last two summers.

Sony's action blockbuster XXX slipped
a notch to third with $13.1M pushing its muscular cume up to $123.9M. Spy
Kids 2 followed in fourth with $8.3M putting its total at $70.1M
to date.

The weekend's only new wide release, the horror flick fear
dot com, bowed to just $7.1M. The Warner Bros. release about
deaths linked to a spooky web site averaged a not-so-scary $2,779 per location
in 2,550 theaters.

Also claiming $7.1M over the long holiday weekend was Mike Myers with
Austin Powers in Goldmember. The New
Line title joined the double-century club on Sunday and has deposited $203.5M
in the bank thus far. Universal's surfer pic Blue
Crush ranked seventh with $5.6M giving the teen film $34.7M
overall. The Matthew Perry-Elizabeth Hurley comedy Serving
Sara dropped to $4.4M in its sophomore frame giving the Paramount
pic $11.9M in eleven days.

Fox Searchlight expanded its Jennifer Aniston-starrer The
Good Girl from 188 to 667 theaters and debuted in the top ten
with $3.8M. The R-rated adultery tale averaged a solid $5,704 over four
days and raised its cume to $7.5M. The distributor does not expect to widen
the release much more and hopes to coast through September in just under
700 theaters.

Tom Hanks stole the number ten spot with Road
to Perdition which grossed $3.5M. Perdition
witnessed a healthy increase from last weekend and watched its total rise
to $99.3M. The DreamWorks/Fox co-production will break the $100M mark later
this week.

One Hour Photo, which finds Robin
Williams playing a film developer who gets obsessively attached to a family
of customers, grossed $3.3M and expanded into the top 25 markets averaging
a scorching $20,282 from 164 theaters in its second weekend. More than
quadrupling the per-theater average of top-grosser Signs,
the Fox Searchlight title packed in audiences while still in limited release
and will expand to over 800 theaters on September 13. Cume to date is $3.8M.

Among foreign films playing in selected theaters, Paramount Classics'
German pic Mostly Martha grossed $503,394
over four days averaging $7,627 from just 66 locations. Total to date is
$869,437. Cinebella opened the Hindi-language film Agnivarsha
- The Fire and the Rain in eight theaters and took in $25,049
for a $3,131 average.

The top ten films grossed $84.7M over the four-day weekend which was
down 4% from last year's holiday frame when Jeepers
Creepers opened at number one with $15.8M; but up 22% from 2000
when Bring It On remained in the top
spot with $14.2M.

Compared to projections, fear dot com
opened very close to my $8M forecast.

Take this week's NEW Reader
Survey on next weekend's new releases. In last week's survey, readers
were asked if they thought My Big Fat Greek Wedding
would break the $100M domestic mark. Of 3,874 responses, 73% said Yes while
27% thought No.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including
projections, for next weekend when City by the
Sea and Swimfan both open.

This column is updated three times each week : Thursday
(upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday
(post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday
night (actuals). Data source: Exhibitor
Relations, EDI. Opinions expressed
in this column are those solely of the author.